Eventually, it turns out that there is only one character in Dumbing Of Age, a poor disturbed soul who believes that they are the collective student body of Indiana University.

And that character is David Willis.

And it is still 1998, and he is still hiding in his dorm room, still having a complete nervous breakdown. And in his fevered dreams, he is having a vision of the future, of all possible college life experiences that can be experienced at Indiana University, by all possible college students. And this is his story.

Honestly, I always thought the blushes were just shadows off glasses. I had to go back through to see if there was any blush on others without glasses before, since it’s something I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise without it pointed out,.

That look. She’s put together the dots. She has sympathy. That’s not the look of a person who is ready to run off and publish, that’s the look of a person who realizes that the girl was involved in a physical altercation with a family member.

It’s true. Plus, of the entire cast, Dorothy is the single most likely person to encourage Amber to get help. Lookit that sympathy! Amber could totally agree to get help so that Dorothy doesn’t publish.

Worth remembering: It was Amber who stabbed Sal, and Amber who attacked Blaine, both in her room and in the parking lot. Not Amazi-Girl. Even though she was wearing the costume when she beat him down, she was tagged only as “amber”.

From the discussion she just had with Ethan, I don’t think Amazi-Girl is Amber’s way of justifying her violence. (Or at least not only…) I think she’s her way of controlling it.

So, yeah, I think Amazi-Girl coming out here is a good sign. Amber might react like a cornered rat. Amazi-Girl reacts with awesomeness and comic-book banter. And hitting, but only people who need it.

Yeah, I think Amazi-Girl is absolutely an identity she takes on to get away from the violence. Because she attacked Sal and has noticed aggression issues within herself, she feels like she has to be someone else to get away from that.

I also kind of always looked at Amazi-Girl as like… who Amber wishes she was? And not in the obvious superhero way, but to be confident and brave and able to stand up for herself and others without losing control of herself.

So I’m doubting this is going to lead to a fight. I really hope AmaziAmber will talk… I mean, what’s the point of running now that Dorothy knows her identity?

I spent 2 1/2 hours archive crawling QC to find the strip where Pizza Girl makes a delivery to Penny and couldn’t find it. I know it’s there somewhere but you have to go through each strip one at a time and I’m just getting too old for that shit.

Walky: Dorothy! Where have you been? Wait you’re not Dorothy your way more curvy and luscious, with a perfect hour glass figure and…..on second thought forget what I just said want to meet up later tonight?”

If this comes to a physical altercation I do not see this ending well for Dorthy. We’ve seen what Amazi-girl can do. We’ve also seen what Dorthy can do, and that seems to be homework and Walky, not in that order.

I have a feeling that the ‘resigned’ look is the one I’d go for. Amber knows she is caught. How she is going to handle that is the question. Run, or stay and face up to the whole mess by talking to someone.

As to Dorothy, I think she looks sorry and sad. If she has put together the two O’malleys, which yeah, she did, then chances are she has now figured out that The Beaten, bastard daddy, and the Beater, the dark haired girl right here, are involved in the worse kind of mess: super dysfunctional family.

Maybe, she even now knows why Danny grew some, when he flat out told Dorothy to back off Amber. Because Danny was involved, and he condones what was done, she knows it has to be bad, because Danny ain’t exactly Capt. America.

It was fairly dangled in front of her face. Blaine O’Malley was beaten up by someone, likely Amazigirl. Amber O’Malley was in possession of several unique items that belong to Amazigirl. Amber freaked out when questioned about the assault on Blaine. That’s more details than Danny had, and the fans hated him for not picking up on it.

Dorothy has clues because Dorothy has been looking for clues. She spotted them, she thought about them, she put them together, she figured out the answer all by herself with her brain. This is in no way comparable to stumbling around in willful ignorance until the answer literally falls in your lap.

Danny hung out with both regularly. He at the least made out with her. Dorothy saw Amazi-girl once, granted in broad daylight, but AG actually covered her face up more when they were face to face. Basically, Dorothy needed to figure it out based on hair and/or body type if she was going to figure it out any sooner. Because she was already in the process of connecting Amber and Blain, and she DID figure it out based on physical objects.

Being a fan of Amazi-girl, I have often found Dorothy’s pursuit of her to make Dorothy come across as irritating and self-centered. But I want to give credit where credit is due, so I’ll grant this: Dorothy’s expression in the last panel is suitably frightened. A lesser investigative reporter would look smug or triumphant, but Dorothy realizes when she’s found out too much, too fast.

4. Fight. Dunno which one is closer to the door, but Amber could actually get in a lot of trouble if Dorothy outs her. She’s probably strong enough to restrain and quiet her long enough to come up with an effective threat. Amber has taken option 3 several times, but Amazi-G is getting stronger, and more cornered.

Amber’s got rosy cheeks when she’s Amber, but as Amazigirl doesn’t blush, when she crosses into that persona, the rosies go away. Meaning…at the end here, we’re not looking at Amber. We’re looking at Amazigirl.

I really wish people would stop commenting on random characters making out or performing a sex. Just because people have sex doesn’t mean they do it indiscriminatly. It is especially unlikely in this situation because they have not interacted before this strip, and neither have shown any inclination for bi/lesbian tendencies. The running joke is getting to be as irritating as asking if Ethan is gay or OMG Amber is Amazigirl.

How does that compute? I understand that this is the collective conclusion, but it seems that Dorothy could much more likely conclude that Amber is stalking Walky. Is there something I’ve overlooked in the story so far?

I am not sure how Dorothy could conclude Amber is stalking Walky merely by possessing a woman’s shoe which matches the one they found yesterday. If anything, that points to Walky stalking Amber, which Dorothy knows they did, because she was helping.

In my personal headspace, this ends with Dorothy taking Amber to go speak to Ruth. Together, the three of them decide that Amber needs to go to get help. She leaves school and gets the treatment she so desperately needs, comes back, and resolves her relationship issues with her father in an adult fashion.

It’s interesting how so many people assume impending violence. Amber’s face in her last panel says to me, “Ok, so you found me out. Now what will you do with that knowledge. Will you make the right choice?…”

And, of course, Dorothy’s face in her last panel says to me, “You flipped me off from the top of that truck… That was mean…” 😉